news
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4 US Ferry Lines Reportedly Receive Permission From Obama to Conduct Trips to Cuba
All aboard to Cuba! Making good on President Barack Obama’s promise to thaw the icy relations between the U.S. and Cuba, his administration gave the green light to four ferry operators Tuesday to begin making round-trips to Cuba, the Associated Press reports. Baja Ferries—a U.S. passenger line that operates in Mexico—said that it received a…
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Howard Student Missing After Taking Commuter Ride With Stranger
On Tuesday, 33-year-old Lance Calvin Buckley left his house in Stafford, Va., headed to Howard University in Washington, D.C., where he is a Ph.D. student. Around 8 a.m., he was dropped off at the Staffordboro Commuter Lot with the hopes of catching a ride with someone headed his way. Around 10 a.m., his wife says,…
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Officer Charged in Freddie Gray’s Death Allegedly Threatened to Kill Ex-Girlfriend’s Husband
One of the officers arrested in the death of Freddie Gray has had disciplinary issues, having had his guns confiscated twice for threatening his ex-girlfriend’s husband with murder-suicide, according to court documents, The Guardian reports. Baltimore Police Lt. Brian Rice, who arrested Gray after making eye contact with the 25-year-old during the fateful April 12 incident,…
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Obama: Racism Plays a Role in Distrust Between Blacks and Police
President Barack Obama went on the Late Show With David Letterman Monday to bid farewell to the host, who is nearing his final days on the air. The president weighed in on the protests in Baltimore in response to the death of Freddie Gray while in police custody. He said that racism does, in fact,…
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Errol Brown, Former Lead Singer of Hot Chocolate, Succumbs to Liver Cancer at Age 71
Errol Brown, former lead singer of British soul band Hot Chocolate, died at his home in the Bahamas on Wednesday after a bout with liver cancer, confirmed his manager Phil Dale to BBC News. He was 71 years old. “He’ll be sadly missed by his friends and family,” said Dale. “He was an extremely good…
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Baltimore Mayor Asks for Justice Department Investigation Into City’s Police Practices
Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake is asking the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate whether the city’s Police Department has underlying patterns of abuse or discrimination, the New York Times reports. “We all know that Baltimore continues to have a fractured relationship between the police and the community,” the mayor said as the city continues to…
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ACLU Accuses Colo. Springs Police of Racial Profiling
Colorado Springs, Colo., police racially profiled two black men when they were stopped and detained, the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado, which is representing the men, claims, according to Reuters. Ryan Brown, the passenger in the vehicle, recorded video after his brother was pulled over for seemingly no reason on March 25. By the…
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UVA Student’s Lawyer: Officers ‘Lacked Legal Justification’ for Arresting Client
University of Virginia student Martese Johnson was charged with public intoxication even though the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control agents who detained the 20-year-old in a brutal and bloody arrest in March didn’t think he was drunk, the Richmond Free Press reports. The officers in their statements noted that they did believe that Johnson might have…
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Baltimore to Pay $50,000 to Train Officers on Legal Stops
On April 12, Freddie Gray was arrested. Some police officers have argued that the police chased Gray because he fled the scene even though officers had not approached him. After he was caught and cuffed, police found a small knife in his pocket. Baltimore City State’s Attorney Marilyn J. Mosby has said that running from…
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Loretta Lynch Arrives in Baltimore, Meets With Gray’s Family and Praises the Police
On Tuesday, Attorney General Loretta Lynch met privately with the family of Freddie Gray, the 25-year-old Baltimore man who suffered injuries in police custody that led to his death. “It was wonderful for the first black woman attorney general in the history of this country to care so much about our city that she came…